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Payton Pritchard has produced NBA Finals buzzer-beaters that will live forever in Boston Celtics lore. He’s a crucial cog in a franchise trying to usher in the league’s next dynasty, and he’s at the forefront of the Sixth Man of the Year conversation.
Before embarking on an NBA career that’s already filled with exhilarating highs and torturous lows, Pritchard helped lead the Oregon Ducks to their first Final Four appearance since the inaugural NCAA men’s basketball tournament. He was the only freshman starter in that year’s Final Four. That was an encore to winning four state titles at West Linn High School in the same state he starred in collegiately.
Pritchard entered the Association as the 26th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. The start of that season got delayed by the pandemic. When the campaign commenced, his “Welcome to the League” moment was an immediate reminder of what it means to play at basketball’s highest level.
“I was playing against Kyrie [Irving] and Kevin Durant, and against Giannis [Antetokounmpo] and my teammate now, Jrue Holiday. So, some elite guards,” recalled Pritchard.
But after averaging nearly 20 minutes as a rookie, his playing time shrunk as Derrick White and Malcolm Brogdon made their way to Boston. Pritchard found himself outside of the team’s rotation in the 2022-23 season. He appeared in only 48 games, logging 13.4 minutes per contest.
“Most guys in his position, the league breaks them,” voiced Joe Mazzulla on the heels of Pritchard inking a four-year, $30 million contract extension before the 2023-24 season began.
“Sure, it can be a mental test, but how do you strive every day?” A reflective Pritchard told Forbes. “I looked at every day as an opportunity to keep getting better and better, knowing that my opportunity was still ahead. When I had that opportunity, I was going to take full advantage of it.”
The now five-year veteran has done so by continuously improving at both ends of the floor. His goals entering this season included becoming more efficient at shooting threes off the dribble.
According to NBA.com, on pull-up threes among those launching at least two per game, Pritchard finished the regular season ranked in the top five in effective field goal percentage, which adjusts field goal percentage to account for the added value of three-point attempts.
“You’ve got to be innovative over time,” Pritchard conveyed. “Looking at my game like, ‘How can I affect the game more and more?’ And this year was the emphasis of going into the offseason, of getting, I need to be better at shooting off the move and shooting off the dribble from three. Obviously, that was a goal of mine, so I prepared for it, and then it came through for me.”
He’s also having, in this author’s estimation, his best season on the defensive end of the floor. That’s earned Pritchard more opportunities to guard the best players on the other team, ranging from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Cade Cunningham to Luka Doncic.
When asked what he attributes his growth to on defense, Pritchard told Forbes, “I feel like a lot of it has to do with working in the weight room, getting stronger, faster, quicker, and being in better shape. But just being fearless and never backing down from a moment.”
It’s a fiery and determined approach he has in common with Jaylen Brown, who praised Pritchard for having a “warrior-like mentality.”
The camaraderie between the two extended into the latter wearing different colorways of Brown’s signature 741 sneakers at times before signing a shoe deal with Converse.
“That’s like a big brother to me,” Pritchard told Forbes of his bond with Brown. “So, I definitely take a lot of things. I definitely think we have a similar mindset and mentality, just the way he approaches the game. And there’s just a competitor to us.”
That approach has helped the six-foot-one guard persevere through hard times on Boston’s bench and become the player he is today. It’s a mental makeup his teammates praise effusively.
“The ultimate competitor (on) both sides of the ball,” Derrick White told Forbes after Pritchard joined him in surpassing Isaiah Thomas’s franchise record of 245 made threes in a season. “[He] never backs down from any challenge and just competes. And you love playing with a guy like that.
“And, obviously, offensively, extremely talented, and kind of just adds something to his game every year. And then defensively, he always takes on that challenge and has that chip on his shoulder, and it’s just fun to see. He’s unbelievable. He’s had a great year for us, and I’m happy to see him succeed.”
Pritchard attributes a part of his growth to learning from White and the third member of Boston’s backcourt triumvirate, Jrue Holiday.
“I take things from them all the time,” shared Pritchard. “But there are things obviously on the court. There are things they do defensively and certain shots they make.
“But really, it’s just the ability to stay even-keeled through it all, like they never ride the waves. To me, they’re always prepared, and that’s really the biggest thing I’ve learned is that they’re always in a good head space.”
The sharpening of his skills at both ends of the floor, coupled with his fiery on-court demeanor and learning how to harness it, has helped Pritchard produce the best season of his career.
The fifth-year guard is averaging 14.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and nearly 1.0 steals. All of those are career highs. So are the 28.4 minutes per game he’s logging. He’s also hoisting 7.8 threes per contest and converting them at a 40.7 percent clip.
“Everybody wants instant gratification. This guy has been grinding and working year after year, and each year, he’s gotten better,” said Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, who shares Oregon roots with Pritchard. “And then, all of a sudden, he’s getting to this level where he’s in Sixth Man of the Year conversations.”
When asked what becoming the fourth player in Celtics history to win the Sixth Man of the Year Award would mean to him, Pritchard expressed to Forbes, “It’d just be a testament to my hard work, my durability over time, and really just striving to be excellent in my role.”
And while a person in his position could get swept up in thoughts of starting elsewhere and what that could look like, festering into discontent in Boston, that’s not how he operates.
“I’m in the role I’m in right now. So, I’m not looking around thinking, ‘Oh, I could be here. I could be doing that.’ I’m just trying to be excellent in the role that I’m in and give everything to the city and the team.”
As he readies to try to help raise Banner 19 to the TD Garden rafters, Pritchard’s taking a motivation stemming from last postseason into this year’s.
What comes to mind for fans when they think about his performance in the NBA Finals are Pritchard’s buzzer-beaters. That’s especially true of his back-breaking heave in Game 5 that signaled the Celtics would be lifting the Larry O’Brien Trophy that night.
What fans might not realize is Pritchard averaged 12.4 minutes per game in that series.
“100 percent,” he told Forbes of that being a source of fuel for him entering the playoffs. “Yeah, people remember the shots and certain things like that, but I feel like I’m motivated by the things I didn’t have, the things I can keep getting better at.
“And I feel like, if I continue on that path, I will always continue to get better because I’m always striving to add new things rather than thinking, ‘Oh, I’ve made it. I’m him now, or something like that.’ That’s not a mindset I’ll ever take. I always think of having a growth mindset.”
From a team perspective, Boston’s roster and coaching staff are nearly identical to last season’s 64-win team. That could help them become the first team since the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors to claim back-to-back NBA championships.
The Celtics may also benefit from having alleviated the pressure that came with repeated trips to the Eastern Conference Finals and losing to the Warriors on basketball’s brightest stage before finally ascending to the NBA summit last June.
However, Pritchard has zero interest in alleviating the pressure that comes with championship expectations.
“I think there’s pressure every year. I feel like we put the pressure on ourselves because we want to win another championship. It’s always a ‘What can you do now mentality.’ So, I feel like we know what’s ahead and what it takes. The preparation that you need to have. So, that’s what gives us the advantage.”
